My 11yo daughter: "Dad, why don't we sing Elevation Worship songs?"
Me: Plays her the 90-second WWUTT video where Steven Furtick called himself "I am God Almighty!" and preached that God told Moses, "You are as I am."
Her: ...........Yyyyeeeahhh... That's messed up.
What happens when we forget about Forever? Well, hereโs just a short list:
- Our marriages struggle because we load the burden of our happiness onto the shoulders of a far-from-perfect spouse
- We put way too much pressure on our children to be successful and live as trophies to our identity
- We have a hard time getting along with family and friends, constantly surprised and disappointed when friends and brothers and sisters hurt us
- We spend more than we earn and find ourselves in crippling financial debt
- We stand in front of full closets and say we have nothing to wear
- We look into fully stocked refrigerators and say we have nothing to eat
- We struggle with envy
- Trials and suffering paralyze us more than they should
- We overmedicate, overeat, and numb ourselves with entertainment and sexual pleasure
What is an idol?
It's something in creation that claims the place in my heart that only God should have. Romans 1:25 says that we "exchange the truth about God for a lie and worship and served the created things rather than the Creator."
What is the real goal?
The real goal is not to โbeat the market.โ The goal is to build wealth.
The real goal is not to read more books. The goal is to understand what you read.
Donโt let a proxy become the target. Donโt optimize for the wrong outcome.